From billionaires’ butler to very successful owner of 3 hair salons with 77 employees (which also meant 77 headaches) to lighting designer and decorative lighting store retailer. William has always had a knack for what looks good and that has served him well as a lighting designer. When he’s not out designing the interior and exterior lighting of a home, he’s minding the store in Santa Barbara (lightandhome.com). William George has been a photographer, interior designer, art historian, theatrical set and lighting designer, and successful entrepreneur in the beauty industry. He has always loved lighting and design and brings his fresh perspective and design sensibility to Light + Home 

Two interesting perspectives on the lighting distribution industry: Sean Valliere who knew nothing about the lighting industry when he became an owner of Lamp Sales Unlimited, and Miranda Shepherd, who worked at Lamp Sales Unlimited for 23 years and also became an owner. Sean and Miranda discuss how they keep customers coming back by carefully choosing the right stock and having better customer service than the other guys. Sean Valliere moved from Pennsylvania at the age of 19 to Jacksonville FL where he worked in Supply Chain and Logistics management for 20 years. He spent 9 years at UPS, 4 years at Grainger and 7 years in Medical Logistics. In November of 2021, Sean’s family along with Miranda Shepherd acquired Lamp Sales Unlimited Inc. A 40-year-old Lighting Distributor with locations in Jacksonville FL and Orlando FL. Sean serves alongside Miranda as a VP to oversee operations and day to day business functions in both Jacksonville and Orlando FL. Miranda Shepherd, a Jacksonville, FL native, has 37 years of experience in the wholesale lighting industry, 23 of those years with Lamp Sales Unlimited. Her lighting career began with a 22-branch multi-state firm in inside sales selling residential lighting, and after 3 years was promoted to outsides sales and later to Branch Manager. Miranda started at Lamp Sales Unlimited in 2001 in outside sales and over the years served in multiple roles including Sales and General Manager. Miranda became one of the managing partners in 2021 and currently serves as Lamp Sales Vice President and General Manager. 

Omar is so knowledgeable about the Internet of Things that he’s written a book about it. He talks to Michael and Greg about the future of smart sensors and cloud data. Imagine a smart sensor that can see where, when and why people gather in a particular spot in a retail establishment. But, as Michael points out, a downside of collecting all this data is that it has to be stored on physical drives that take enormous amounts of energy and cover acres and acres of land around the planet. Omar A. Rivera is an industry-leading product development professional with more than 30 years of experience working with Osram/Sylvania, General Electric, and Orion Energy System. He has expertise in advanced energy-efficient lighting systems, where he led a product development team to launch the most efficient industrial light fixture in the world in 2017. This record-breaking efficacy still stands today. Omar A. Rivera has authored numerous articles and white papers on energy efficiency that have been published in various magazines and blogs. Omar is also an expert in the application of the Internet of Things “IoT technologies.” He was an early adaptor of this technology and led the effort to integrate advanced sensor technology into lighting systems. These sensors collect data to help organizations run more efficiently, save energy, and increase asset security. Omar served in the United States Air Force with distinction for 13 years. He has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from California Coast University, MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Business Executive Programs.

Michael and Greg continue their conversation in Frankfurt Germany. This time Michael is the “guest.” Greg asks Michael what he thinks about the organizers of Light + Building taking over LightFair. Is this a trojan horse? Is this a way for European companies to worm their way into the North American market?

Entschuldigung! Greg is Michael's "guest" on this one, reporting from Light + Building in Germany. But mostly they talk about LightFair in America. It seems Light + Building will be organizing the next LightFair. Greg is a little more ambivalent than Michael about it. But they both agree LightFair needs to be shaken up. Maybe some Europeans can do that. 

You might have caught Buddy on Restoring Darkness ep. 92. We had him on Restoring Darkness because he’s at the front lines of manufacturing responsible outdoor lighting. You might even say, he’s cornered the market. When Sedona Arizona put out a tender for dark sky friendly lighting, his company, Crossroads LED was the only bidder. And this gels with what Michael has been saying - there’s money to be made in the relighting (or darkening?) of America. Buddy Stefanoff is an entrepreneur, small business owner and the Vice President of Engineering for Crossroads LED. With over 20 plus years of experience and expertise in the development of advanced, LED based luminaires and dark-sky certified lighting platforms, Mr. Stefanoff is the driving force behind the company’s product line which has received numerous patents and awards, including the International Dark-Sky Association’s prestigious “Best Design and Technical Innovation Award”. Under Mr. Stefanoff’s direction and leadership, Crossroads LED has become the undisputed worldwide leader in the design and production of LED luminaires that reduce light pollution and sky glow. 

You can’t help getting swept up in Dirk’s enthusiasm and energy. And that’s over the internet. Dirk insists that distribution is a noble calling. It’s a 7 Trillion dollar economic engine and it supports over 6 million jobs. In the middle of the pandemic, Dirk decided he wanted to support that calling, so he went on the road with his We Supply America Tour. Go to https://wesupplyamerica.net/ and maybe you can get him to come to your distribution business. Dirk Beveridge is a visionary entrepreneur and the founder of UnleashWD, an innovative firm that creates transformative learning experiences and connections for growth oriented distributors. With his one-of-a-kind perspective on the future of wholesale distribution, Dirk has been leading major change for over 35 years to advance growth, relevance, and transformation. Over the last three years Dirk produced the We Supply America tour including a twenty-four film docuseries highlighting and championing the noble calling of distribution. Dirk has authored four books including the best selling INNOVATE! How Successful Distributors Lead Change In Disruptive Times. And on May 1st, Dirk is producing Force For Good Virtual - Live, a transformative event to fuel personal and professional growth for all 6 million employees of distribution. 

Avi doesn’t give a damn who makes the lights or what kind of lights they are as long as the feeling and emotion is achieved in a space. And of course, that feeling has to be maintained. So if you’ve buried a light fixture in concrete, that “feeling” is going away in about 5 years when the light burns out and you can’t get at it. If you want to keep the feeling, call on Morlights to design your lighting. Founding Principal, Avraham “Avi” M. Mor has been practicing lighting design for over 20 years. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a BFA in Theater Design with an emphasis in Architectural and Theatrical Lighting Design, he moved back to his hometown of Chicago to further his craft. Avi has grown his business from a small operation with only a handful of clients to a bustling firm with projects of all sizes located around the nation. 

Returning guest Melvin Newman tells us what’s been going on with Patabid since we last saw him. There’s a new partnership with City Electric Supply, improved estimating software and AI, and even more time savings for contractors. Melvin is the President/CTO of PataBid. Prior to co-founding PataBid in 2018, Melvin worked in the construction industry for 15+ years as an estimator and project manager. As an entrepreneur, Melvin co-founded PataBid and is the full stack developer on the platform, specializing in the development of the internal ML/AI systems. In addition to developing the platform, Melvin is responsible for building the deployment systems and developing key business partnerships.

Another short one with Michael and Greg. In this episode, our hosts discuss the phases of a career in lighting distribution. The first phase had Greg going everywhere looking for dead light bulbs or broken lenses just to get a supply business going. Michael’s story is similar except he did it on Rollerblades. Buy some inline skates and get your business going!

Michael Colligan is President of Atlas Lighting in Toronto, Canada. 

Greg Ehrich is President of Premier Lighting in St. Paul, Minnesota.